Nintendo 3DS breaks Amazon pre-order record

Nintendo's 3D handheld rakes it in ahead of March 25th

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Nintendo's upcoming 3DS blows pre-order sales of Wii and DSi out of the water.

The first 3D handheld, the Nintendo 3DS, has smashed Amazon pre-order records, Amazon revealed today. The 3DS, which goes on sale on March 25th along with the iPad 2, has pre-orders 56% higher than the Nintendo Wii and a whopping 255% higher than the Nintendo DSi.

"It's unusual for a handheld console to attract this amount of excitement in the run up to launch," says Chris Poad, Amazon's UK director of video games. "Such high levels of interest are normally reserved for the play-at-home hardware like the ground-breaking Nintendo Wii and last year’s Microsoft Kinect."

"Nintendo 3DS is launching at a time when interest in all things 3D is incredibly high" Poad went on to say. "With the promise of real 3D graphics without glasses, it’s a real breakthrough in handheld video game entertainment."

The 3DS was released in Japan at the end of February, and eager Japanese gamers snapped up all 400,000 handhelds before the end of the launch weekend . The Nintendo 3DS is currently available for pre-order from Amazon for £187 - a full £42 under the asking price, and currently the cheapest place we can find to offer it (tied with Morrisons). March 25th is looking to be an expensive day in tech.

Picking up a Nintendo 3DS on launch day? Check out our quick preview video below for a look at the device in action.